The Manchester City is out of the Champions League. The English education of Guardiola, in fact, was eliminated by Real Madrid in the quarter-finals, after a long ‘battle’ that ended in penalty kicks. The Spanish coach was unable to count on penalties Manuel Akanji, Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland, who were replaced during extra time. The replacement of two key players right before the penalties seemed like a senseless move, but Pep explained the decision like this…
Guardiola’s revelation and the fans’ comments
In the post-match press conference, Guardiola revealed: “Akanji, De Bruyne and Haaland asked me to come off. They couldn’t continue. They were playing splendidly and I’m not a fan of substitutions, you know, but they asked me, they couldn’t do it”. Precisely those substitutions, especially those relating to the Belgian and the Norwegian, had triggered particular reactions from City fans on social media: From “pExtreme penalty shootouts, why did Pep replace Haaland when penalties were a likely event?” And “why did he remove KDB and Haaland?!” to “I blame Pep’s useless changes. Who makes these substitutions?”, are just some of the comments from Citizens supporters that appeared on social media.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
